past projects: community
Image: Side-by-side rehearsals for the Takeover concert
royal Scottish national orchestra
ENGAGEMENT COORDINATOR
Between August 2013 and August 2014, I worked freelance for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s Engage department as their first Engagement Coordinator, with a specific responsibility for fostering the RSNO's relationships with schools and communities in Dundee.
Over my 12-month appointment I was involved in a number of projects, the highlights of which included:
I co-produced a brand new classical music festival for the city called SpingFest, resulting in a programme of over 20 events for all ages.
I worked alongside a local secondary school to produce a tea dance in their local community. The tea dance involved pupils, teachers and community groups, musicians from the RSNO and a dance company who specialise in demonstrating and teaching vintage dance routines, and was inspired by the music, poetry and stories of World War One. As part of this, pupils composed their own original scores in collaboration with RSNO musicians and then performed alongside members of the Orchestra at the tea dance.
I also worked on the RSNO’s first Takeover event, which saw 40 young people between the ages of 16 and 18 spend two days working in various departments of the organisation and culminated with a concert where many of the young people played alongside members of the Orchestra, conducted in part by two of the young people.
Image: The Great Explorers holiday programme in Glendaruel
paper tiger theatre
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Paper Tiger Theatre was the umbrella name under which I delivered a number of projects in rural Argyll. The work was based in community and social settings, engaging positively with people to inspire creativity, and often involved a range of art forms, including drama, visual arts, movement, music, photography, creative play and storytelling.
BOATHOUSE BEASTIES @ INVER COTTAGE
Boathouse Beasties was a series of workshops for 4-7 year olds which took place in the boathouse attached to a lochside restaurant, Inver Cottage, on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll. These monthly creative adventures were inspired by the characters, colours, sounds and places in some brilliant stories and involved a combination of drama, art, creative play and games. Boathouse Beasties ran from 2011-12.
ARC GLENDARUEL
These sell-out projects ran as part of summer holiday activities for 5-12 year olds in the community centre in Glendaruel. In 2012 I ran a three-day project called The Incredible Island and in 2013 I ran a four-day project called The Great Explorers, with both projects encompassing drama, art, games, mask making, puppetry and storytelling.
CAIRNDOW ARTS
Similar to the ARC project in Glendaruel, these two summer projects for 5-12 year olds ran as part of a creative arts holiday project in rural Argyll from 2012-13.
Image: A felt monster from a Wee Beasties workshop
east dunbartonshire council / LEISURE AND CULTURE TRUST
DRAMA WORKSHOP LEADER AND STORYTELLER
Between 2009-13, I delivered a variety of projects for East Dunbartonshire Council’s Arts Development, Education and Creative Links Departments, which later became East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust, both in schools and in the community.
Past projects for children and young people have included Scottish themed workshops for secondary pupils, interactive storytelling workshops based on the tale of Finn McCool and the Giant’s Causeway for P1-4 pupils, play-in-a-week holiday programmes for 11-16 year olds, and collaborating with a visual artist on a story-based Wee Beasties holiday workshop programme for 3-6 year olds in community centres and libraries across the region.
I also had the opportunity to deliver some taster drama sessions for adults with learning disabilities and their support staff through which I focused on developing their confidence, enhancing their social skills and improving their emotional wellbeing.
Image: Part of the Life After Iraq exhibition / Photo: Angela Catlin
Scottish refugee council
EDUCATION FACILITATOR - LIFE AFTER IRAQ
Photographer Angela Catlin and writer Billy Briggs were originally commissioned in 2008 by Scottish Refugee Council to create the Life After Iraq exhibition. For this, Angela and Billy met with Iraqi refugees in both Syria and Glasgow to bring their harrowing stories to light. Then, in Autumn 2009, Scottish Refugee Council commissioned me to tour a light-weight version of the exhibition around Glasgow secondary schools, to design and deliver education workshops for the pupils, and to write an education resource for use in the classroom. In late 2010, I toured the outreach programme to further schools around Glasgow, Inverclyde and East Ayrshire. The photos and stories from this exhibition are documented on Angela’s website: Syria and Scotland.
REFUGEE WEEK ASSISTANT
Between April and July 2008, I worked full-time as Refugee Week Assistant for the Scottish Refugee Council, working alongside the Arts and Cultural Development Officer to coordinate, promote and evaluate Refugee Week Scotland 2008. Our programme encompassed more than 90 events, including theatre, dance, music, exhibitions, talks, film screenings, football tournaments, poetry readings, media awards and community celebrations. Over 22,500 people engaged with the events over the course of the week. As part of the evaluation for the project, I interviewed a number of participants to gain further insight in to the impact that Refugee Week can have on our local communities.
Image: The River Clyde in Dunoon, Argyll
argyll and bute council
COMMUNITY ARTS WORKSHOP LEADER
Every August between 2005 and 2009, I wrote and delivered a creative project for Fusions, part of Argyll and Bute Council, working with a group of 6-12 year olds from the local area who all had additional learning support needs. Over five mornings, we would explore the theme for the week through drama, movement, puppetry, percussion, storytelling, gardening and visual art.
This was a hugely rewarding community education programme to be involved with and allowed me to develop a really creative environment for the children to engage with each summer, particularly for those who returned each year:
2009 / The Beachcomber - discovering mysteries about the shore
2008 / The Wild Side - adventures in a colourful wilderness
2007 / Green Fingers - find out what’s lurking at the bottom of the garden
2006 / The Caped Crusaders - the world of the superhero
2005 / The Big Blue Adventure - an imaginary journey beneath the sea
Image: The Red-Haired Boy and the Roaring Dragon storytrail
giant
FREELANCE ARTIST, PROJECT LEADER, TRAINING FACILITATOR AND DRAMA OFFICER
Between 2004-08, I worked for Giant on a number of projects. Here are a few examples:
November 2007 - April 2008 / Storytelling, storymaking and storyreading workshops for 2-4 year olds and their parents/carers, as well as outreach workshops in four nurseries and community centres in Glasgow’s East End, in partnership with Platform.
October - November 2007 / Making Storytime Interactive twilight training sessions for nursery staff, primary teachers and support workers from both mainstream and special education settings, play workers and other professionals who used creativity in their work.
August - October 2007 / Avenue End Primary and Croftcroighn School for children with complex needs moved to a combined campus in April 2007. The Giant Jungle aimed to integrate the two schools through a joint project, using movement, music, drama and art to explore the jungle theme with pupils from each school. The project culminated with a celebration event.
April - October 2007 / As Drama Officer, I worked 3-days a week to deliver a range of projects, including after-school drama, Giant Saturdays cross-arts workshop programme, an early years story pilot, and holiday programmes at Giant’s own venue and at Tramway.
July 2005 / Giant commissioned me to write and perform a site-specific storytrail, The Red-Haired Boy and the Roaring Dragon, incorporating the architecture of The Lighthouse and a stretch of Glasgow’s Buchanan Street, in a fully inclusive, sensorial journey for 3-11 year olds, programmed to coincide with the Special Olympics.
April 2005 - January 2007 / I ran various workshops using Giant’s Musical Garden, a specially created collection of musical instruments which I used to explore the environment, stories and imagination with children from age 1-11.